Fried Chicken Strips & Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1-1/2 teaspoons pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 pounds chicken tenderloins (or chicken breasts cut into strips)
Oil for deep-fat frying

Directions:
In a shallow bowl, whisk egg and buttermilk. In a separate shallow bowl, combine the flour, garlic powder, pepper, salt and paprika. Dip chicken in egg mixture, then flour mixture.
In an electric skillet, heat oil to 350-375. Fry chicken, a few pieces at a time, for 2-3 minutes on each side or until no longer pink. 
In a deep fryer, heat oil to 350-375 (or set the fryer to the 'chicken' setting) Fry strips until they are golden brown and have floated to the surface.
Drain on paper towels.   
Already fried chicken can be kept in a 200 degree oven until all the chicken has been fried (I use cooling racks placed on a foil covered cookie sheet so the pieces stay relatively crisp)

Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 Tbsp prepared yellow mustard

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

1 1/2 tsp vinegar

1 Tbsp honey

Salt and pepper, to taste

HINTS

*If you don't have a deep fat frying thermometer or a deep fryer with a 'ready' light - you can tell the oil is ready when a 1" cube of white bread dropped into the oil browns in 60 seconds; that oil temperature will be about 365 degrees.

*Don't have buttermilk? Make your own - in a 1cup measuring cup add 1 Tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice then fill the measuring cup the rest of the way with milk - let it sit five minutes then it's ready to use.

Anthony's Smothered Burgers and Skillet Potatoes

This is NOT a fat free, low cholesterol, I'm watchin my figure kinda meal.  

Of all the meals Anthony cooks, this is my favorite...a very guilty pleasure so we don't indulge too often!  

This is one of those 'to taste' recipes, nothing is measured, everything is added til it 'looks right'

Burgers:

Mix seasonings of choice into 1-2lbs of ground meat (depending on how many and how big you want your burgers)
Since Anthony won't share with me the seasonings he uses I'll share with you what I think he uses

onion powder

garlic powder

Tex-Joy steak seasoning

Tony Chachere's Cajun seasoning

black pepper

you of course can use whatever your favorite burger seasonings are

Patties are somewhere between 1/4 & 1/3 pounds before cooking *told you, not a watching your figure recipe*

Cook burgers in a skillet over a medium heat

While burgers are cooking chop up some onion and bell pepper (red, yellow, orange, green - whatever you have on hand) How much? However much you want in the gravy and in your potatoes (potato directions to follow)

Once burgers are almost done cooking and have produced a good amount of drippings you can make the gravy

Mix together some flour and water - should be a fairly liquid consistency and as free of lumps as possible - add to burger skillet and mix in. Add in peppers and onions and some black pepper (and any other seasoning you feel like adding), mix again - place cover on skillet so it vents a bit - let simmer so gravy will thicken.  If gravy gets too think simply add water in small amounts until gravy is the desired consistency 

Potatoes:

In another skillet pour a layer of oil, not deep, but enough to cover the bottom of the skillet

Slice up 2-3 medium potatoes (any more and the skillet will be too crowded)

Heat the oil

Add potatoes, onions, peppers to heated oil (careful, the oil may 'pop')

Season with salt and pepper and mix

Cover and allow potatoes to cook until they start to brown then use a spatula to 'flip' them to ensure even cooking

Potatoes are done when they are tender and the color you want them to be 

Sweet & Savory Baked Pork Chops

Ingredients:
4 thin to medium cut boneless pork chops
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 large sweet onion (like Vidalia), sliced
salt , pepper, & steak seasoning to taste
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Melt the butter in a skillet on medium-high heat.  Season the pork chops on each side with salt & pepper.  Cook for a few minutes on each side, until nicely browned.  Transfer the chops to a 2 quart casserole dish and sprinkle with steak seasoning.
Add the sliced onion, brown sugar, & Worcestershire sauce to the butter in the skillet.  Cook for 7 minutes.  The mixture will be dark & lovely.  Pour the onion mixture evenly on top of the pork chops.  Cover with tin foil & bake for 20 minutes.
Serve with the sauce spooned on top, and/or with the sauce in a dipping cup.

Changes/Additions I made
*put the steak seasoning on, instead of salt, before placing it in the skillet to cook
*in a separate skillet from the onions I sauteed up some red and yellow pepper slices in 2T brown sugar and 2T Worcestershire sauce - I did not pour the sauce from this skillet over the chops, just placed the peppers on top of the onions covered and baked

Crock Pot Pot Roast

3 to 4 pound boneless chuck roast
32 ounces low-sodium beef broth or stock
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons smoked (or regular) paprika
3 teaspoons allspice
2-3 large sprigs fresh rosemary
3 medium sized carrots, coarsely chopped
1 large onion, sliced thinly
1 to 2 pounds potatoes, diced (about 3 medium potatoes)
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Spray your crock pot generously with Pam or line it with a crock pot liner.
2. Pour the beef stock, balsamic vinegar, honey and tomato paste into the crock pot. Stir it together and add in the paprika, allspice, salt and pepper to taste.
3. Toss in half of the vegetables and place your chuck roast on top of everything. Toss in the rest of the vegetables and stir everything all together as best you can, making sure that the beef is mostly submerged in the broth. Top with your rosemary.
4. Set the crock pot on low and cover. Let it cook for 8-10 hours on low. If you can, check on it every so often and give it a little stir (this isn’t necessary if you are away from the house).
5. When ready, move the roast to a cutting board and slice to serve. Serve with the vegetables and juices from the meat and broth. A salad might go well here too, but we were all about meat and potatoes that night.

I used:

*1.6lb roast - cut the recipe in half 

*skipped the carrots

*2 t dried rosemary instead of fresh sprigs (some under the roast, some on top)

*regular paprika with a few drops of Liquid Smoke
*tomato sauce reduced by 2/3 (directions can be found here http://southernfood.about.com/od/tomatoes/qt/how-to-make-tomato-paste.htm)

Slow Cooker Coke Chicken

Recipe from southernplate.com

Ingredients
1 Fryer
1 Lemon (2 T lemon juice if you don't have a lemon)
1 Onion
1 Bottle (18oz) BBQ Sauce
1 Can (12oz) Coca Cola
Instructions
Peel onion and cut into quarters. Cut lemon into quarters. Place fryer in crock pot. Toss in onion quarters and lemon quarters. Pour in entire bottle of BBQ sauce and entire can of Coke. Cover and cook on low all day or high 3-4 hours.

While all of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauces are tasty, I suggest you try the Honey Chipotle flavor - sweet with a subtle twang even those of us who don't tolerate spicy can enjoy.